Recipe: Green Vegetable Fried Rice & Crescent Moon Dumplings

This month we wrote about The Sylvia Center, an nutrition-focused youth development organization that works to educate young people in high-need communities about healthy eating and food preparation habits. At Katchkie Farm, their Kinderhook location, the nonprofit runs immersive, daylong programs with young students, educating the next generation of healthy eaters, cooks, and food justice advocates.

As part of The Sylvia Center's programming, students cook a healthy meal together, such as the rice and dumplings recipes shared below.

Green Vegetable Fried Rice

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 bunch scallions, sliced and divided

1 tablespoons ginger, minced

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 cup frozen edamame or green peas

6 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped

3 eggs, lightly whisked

5 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

4 cups cooked brown rice, cold

Preparation:

Heat olive oil in large skillet over high heat. Add the scallions, garlic, and ginger and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

Add edamame and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add spinach and sauté for another 1-2 minutes, or until spinach has wilted.

Make a hole in the middle of the pan by pushing veggies to the sides of pan and add eggs. Scramble eggs and then fold in with the veggies.

Add rice to the vegetable mixture and stir to combine.

Drizzle soy sauce over the rice and vegetables evenly and stir until soy sauce is evenly coated. Add sesame oil and fold in scallions. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Crescent Moon Dumplings

Makes 60 pieces

Ingredients:

For Dumplings

1 pound firm tofu, drained

1 ounce fresh ginger, minced

1 large bunch spinach (or 1 bag baby spinach leaves), minced

12 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps minced

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 cup all-purpose flour, for dusting

60 fresh round dumpling wrappers

For Herbed Dipping Sauce

3 tablespoons oil

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 scallion, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 cup cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon dried chili flakes

½ cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Preparation:

Put ½ cup soy sauce in a small bowl. In a skillet over high heat, add the vegetable or canola oil and stir-fry the garlic, scallion, 1 tablespoon ginger, red chili flakes, and cilantro until fragrant and lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer to the soy sauce in the bowl. Set the herbal soy sauce dip aside.

In a large mixing bowl, crumble the tofu until it resembles a coarse meal. Combine with 1 tablespoon ginger, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, sesame oil, and black pepper, and mix thoroughly.

Put water in a small bowl. Dust a plate with all-purpose flour. With a wrapper on the palm of one hand, dip your opposite pointer finger in the water and run it across the outer 1/2-inch edge of the wrapper. Put a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper and fold into a half-moon shape, sealing the wet edges together. Place the dumpling on the plate. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.

Heat a large nonstick skillet to high heat. Once the skillet smokes, add a generous drizzle of vegetable oil. Working quickly, arrange dumplings in a single layer with the flattest side down. Add ½ cup of water to the pan and immediately cover with a lid to trap steam. Check on dumplings after about 1 minute. If the water has evaporated, add more water. When the dumpling wrappers become translucent and the bottom is golden brown, remove them from heat. Repeat with remaining dumplings.

Drizzle lightly with herbal soy sauce or serve sauce on the side for dipping.